Share this:

It’s been a super busy time here, with school holidays and then back to school, exams, school sports finishing/starting…it’s all a little hectic really!

Whenever life gets a little too hectic, I always take the opportunity to stop, take a breath and refocus on our routines and see what’s working and what’s not working.

I thought I’d share a few of our ideas today – maybe you’re thinking of starting /stopping some things at your place?

Starting - Chef’s Tuesday is the newest addition to our family routine. Here’s the lowdown, each week two of the kids select a recipe they would like to cook for dinner and then we have a family cooking session. This week, the kids choose Bacon & Zucchini Fritters and Beef Stir-fry with Garlic Rice. My top tip? Keep the recipes simple (try this fab magazine or grab the freebies from Coles, Woolworths or Aldi), sneak in lots of vegetables and try and shop for the ingredients together (great opportunity for real life maths – bonus!).

Stopping – Trying to solve everyone’s problems and overreacting to bad things. Ok, this is a tough one, and one I’ve really had to work on. With the aim of building grit and resistance in each of my kids, I have been trying to listen more, guide them to solve/ deal with issues in their lives, and have been encouraging more independence. Here’s an example – so you find out that your kid didn’t get invited to a birthday party. Your instinct may be to get super grumpy and feel put out (on your kids behalf). The downside? Your kid see your reaction and thinks ‘hang on, maybe this is a big deal – Mum/ Dad is really cranky, maybe I should be too?’. Not great right? Instead, stay calm and model the resilience and confidence you’d like to see in your kid. So you didn’t get invited to the party, that’s ok, maybe their parents could only invite a few kids, or maybe that’s just what they wanted to do. So, what are we going to do that weekend? (Ahhh, the powers of distraction can also work a treat with this one).

Continuing - Daily exercise. All the experts agree, exercise is really good for you! Our exercise can include going for a walk, getting the bikes or scooters out and heading out and about, heading to the boxing gym together or going for swim. My top tips? Make it fun, add in a scavenger hunt if interest is waning, make it a race (oh my goodness, my kids will compete for any reason!), try a new sport if you can, stay positive – remember it should be about effort and attitude – not ability. One final tip – make sure everyone has comfortable exercising gear including decent runners/ sneakers. Target, Big W, Kmart and Best & Less all have some great affordable gear (*not sponsored by the way, I just find kitting out four kids in clothes can get super expensive!).

Hopefully that's given you a little insight into what's working and not working in my world, and maybe also given you a little inspiration to take a look at your world and think about what's working/ not working for you.

I had one of those parenting moments this week, or maybe it’s a life moment, where I did the reverse of what I wanted to do and it turned out wonderfully. My eldest son came to me with a board game he’d been given as a gift and asked if I wanted to play. I […]

Share this:

I had one of those parenting moments this week, or maybe it's a life moment, where I did the reverse of what I wanted to do and it turned out wonderfully.
My eldest son came to me with a board game he'd been given as a gift and asked if I wanted to play.
I was busy doing my own thing at the time (creating some fab little frocks for my store) , and thoroughly enjoying myself.
Plus I was on a roll.
Plus it was MY time out.
I know, that sounds very selfish, but if you have kids, you know what it can be like. Time out is precious, and you can go a little nuts without some.
So back to me (see, selfish again). What I nearly said was 'later mate, I'm busy right now'.
Instead, I put down what I was doing and said, 'I'd love to' and sat down on the floor to play a game.
The look on his face was well worth it. We then spent the next half an hour playing the Dinosaur Adventure game together and both had a brilliant time. Later that night we coaxed the whole family into having a game, and it was one of the highlights of the week.
Lots of laughs, lots of ribbing each other, and lots of fun time together.
I think this is what well-meaning child psychologists and parenting experts are talking about when they discuss quality versus quantity in spending time with your kids.
Do you still play board games with your kids?
Enjoy xx